The Land of Tema, Te'-ma, Tema (; ) or Thaiman is a place mentioned in the BibleS. Smith, Babylonian Historical Texts (1924), 98-123Arnulf Hausleitner, "Tayma - eine frühe Oasensiedlung", in: Archäologie in Deutschland, 3/213, pp. 14–19 where the descendants of Ishmael's son Tema dwelt. It was most likely in northern Saudi Arabia and has been identified with the modern Teima',R. P. Dougherty, Nabonidus and Belshazzar. (1929) p 1-5-200Rev Charles Foster, The historical geography of Arabia; or, The patriarchal evidences of revealed religion. With an appendix containing translations of the Hamyaritic inscriptions recently discovered in Hadramaut, Volume 1 (1844) p 294. an oasis (fitting with the description in Jeremiah) which lies about north of Medina, and some south of Dumat, or Duma, now known as el-Jauf. Teima' is on the ancient caravan road connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Aqaba which in antiquity brought wealth to the town.See Job 6:19See:Isaiah 21:14 Doughty has described at Teima the ruins of an old city wall in circuit.R. P. Dougherty, Arabia Deserta, I, p285 An Aramaic stele recently discovered, belonging to the 6th century BC, shows the influence of Assyrian in the town. The place is mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions.Schrader, KAT2, 149 Tema at BibleAtlas.com. The possibility of its being on a trade route is supported by the reference in Job 6:19. It is often associated with the Land of Dumah.
The Bible mentions Tema several times, including Isaiah 21:14; Jeremiah 25:23, 49:7, 49:20; Obadiah 1:9; and Amos 1:12. One of the protagonists in Job is Eliphaz the Temanite, and Genesis 36 refers to Husham of the land of the Temanites.
Outside of the Bible, it was mentioned by Ptolemy,Ptolemy 5:19, section 6 Pliny,Pliny, Geogr. 5, 19 and Hist. Nat. 6:32 Agatharchides,Rev Charles Foster, The historical geography of Arabia; or, The patriarchal evidences of revealed religion. With an appendix containing translations of the Hamyaritic inscriptions recently discovered in Hadramaut, Volume 1 (Duncan and Malcom, 1844) p294.Agatharchides LXX and Josephus.Josephus Antiquities X.xi.2 It was noted as halfway between Damascus and Mecca, and between Babylonia and Egypt.Rodolfo C. Estimo Jr. (7 November 2010). "Pharaonic inscription found in Saudi Arabia". ArabNews. Yaqut mentions that in the Middle Ages, it was inhabited by a Jewish Community.Yaqut, Šihāb al-Dīn ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Ḥamawī. "Mu’jam al-Buldān". Dār Ṣādir, Beirut 1995, p. 67 Nabunaid of Babylon captured the cityJack Finegan, Light from the Ancient Past, Vol. 1: The Archaeological Background of the Hebrew-Christian Religion (Princeton University Press, 8 Dec. 2015) p190. and settled there until Cyrus the Great captured the city and moved him to Carmania.
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